CliffsNotes on Malamud's The Assistant

CliffsNotes on Malamud's The Assistant

CliffsNotes on Malamud's The Assistant

Excerpt

The novel is set in Brooklyn. The neighborhood is a rundown conglomeration of tenements and stores not far from a small park, a movie theater, and a public library. With the exception of Frank Alpine and Ward Minogue, the important characters are Jews, but since they are in a neighborhood of gentiles, they are drawn to one another — however vaguely or antagonistically at times — by the bond of their Jewishness. Judaism as a formal religion seems to have little place in their lives, but their consciousness of themselves as Jews is always present